Binding Chains
by WithinThePoetsShadow
Summary: NarutoAnima Life is hard when you're a Anima, something Narutos friends know too well. But when Sasuke and co are sent to capture them what will they do? What will happen when secrets are unleashed and the snake comes out to play? Pairings inside
1. Fishes and Uchihas

**Basic Characters**

**Naruto's group:**

**Naruto (15), Gaara (15), Ino(15), Haku(15), Deidara(15), Sasori(15), Kiba(15), Hinata(15), Lee(15), Iruka(17), Kisame(16), Konohamaru(13), Moegi(13), Udon(13), Zabuza(17), Anko(17), Shizune(17), Tenten(15), Obito(16), Kimimaru(17) (I had to have him escape Orochi,maru's snakish clutches)  
**

**Sasuke's group:**

**Sasuke(16), Itachi,(18) Sakura(15), Neji(16), Shino(16), Temari(20), Kankuro(19), Mizuki(21), Kakashi(21), Kurenai(21), Azuma(22), Baki(34 Ha ha Baki's an old FART!), **

**Orochimaru's group:**

**Orochimaru (25-for the sake of the story, he's young), Sound 4, Kabuto(20), Akadou Yoroi (One of the two guys who work for Orochimaru to create fish-mutants), The other fish-mutant-guy, Kin(17), Dozu(17), Zaku(18),  
**

**Naruto and co. are +Anima. They later meet Cooro and Co. All are being hunted by Sasuke and co. who work for the government, and Orochimaru and co. who are all evil and hidden (no-one knows they're even involved) . The group are hunted by the government because they are +Anima, but what if some of the people on their side are also +Anima?**

* * *

"I have a very pretty fish that got caught in my net..." 

"This is a circus, not a fish market!"

Six-year old eyes watched the scene with interest from amidst the darkness. Maybe he could steal the fish when their backs were turned? He was definately hungry enough. He could cook it on a fire. But lighting a fire would be bad. They would find him. Then he would be like the fish, he mused. Caught, with no chance of escape, to later be hurt, most definately killed.

Or maybe not. He wasn't sure what happened after he got mad at them, it could've been anything.

"What?! This is no fish! It's a baby! ...And it's dead!"

The boys ears twitched. A baby? What?!?!

"Do not worry. He is very much alive."

A small, scaly hand protruded from the water. The crimson-orbs widened and filled with hope. Someone like him! Someone like him...

As quickly as his hope rose, it plummeted. No-one was like him... no-one was a monster. He was still alone. Still alone...

He twisted on his heel and ran swiftly through the night, the same thought spinning through his tired mind.

_No-one... no-one..._

* * *

Uchiha Itachi was the boss. 

If Sasuke was not Sasuke, he would've pouted.

Itachi this, Itachi that; his parents had been the same. They only loved Itachi. Itachi the good one, Itachi the intelligent, Itachi the prodigy. Stupid Itachi!

Sasuke was currently in his brothers office, glaring across the desk, not at his brother, but at the wooden plaque that said "Leitenant(sp?) Uchiha". He wanted his name on that stupid meddling wooden plaque! Well, technically it was exactly the same as it would've been if he were boss, but-

"Sasuke," Itachi's calm, oceanic voice broke like a wave through his mutiny-filled thoughts. He looked up and tried to stop his eye from twitching. The calm globes of crimson and black drilled holes in his skull.

"Yes nii-san?" He answered stiffly. His brother insisted he be called nii-san, instead of the usual 'Uchiha-Sama' he should've used, as second-in command.

"I've just received a letter from Ren-jii." Technically he should've said Mukai-Dono, or at least Ren-jii-Dono, but the two had been friends, or acquaintances, so long he didn't bother. He was second-to-Dono, the head of battle, economy, foreign relations and everything else.

"... Any questions?" Sasuke blinked. It seemed like he should've been paying attention. A sigh told him his brother had known he wasn't paying mind.

His brother smirked, seemingly knowing his dilemma. "We have a new ... Project." This angered Sasuke. He knew that! He also knew his brother knew this, and was just being mean, childish as it sounded. His stupid nii-san was toying with him! Stupid!

"... +Anima hunt." Sasuke's eyes twitched. His brother was doing it on purpose! Giving him something to think about and telling him important while he was distracted. And-

The full force of what Itachi just said hit him. +Anima hunt?

"...Travel in a pack." From what he gathered, they were going to go stop a group who traveled in a pack and hunted +Anima. He didn't want to help them though. They killed his family, they were beasts of hell the lot of them! And-

"So, mind going to tell the others of the new project?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Crazy nii-san! He did this on purpose. Sasuke suddenly smirked. The thing was, they were both Uchiha's. So they could both play dirty.

"We're hunting a group who seem to chase down and kill +Anima and arrest them. It will be a long-term trip so we should pack clothing. Warm clothing." Oh, he was good. So, so good. And hot. And mysterious. In fact, he was The Sasuke Uchiha. " 'Cause we'll be traveling through mountains. and because we will faced dangers it will be a large group, with everyone; Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru, Sakura, Neji, Shino, Sakura Tenten, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma-"

Sasuke stopped speaking when he saw his brothers look; one eyebrow raised, hands in cliche-ed evil-pose position. He had that special glare that only Uchiha's could achieve, too; their eyes seemed to burn into you, and they seem to smirk, but they don't really move at all. Scary.

What he next said threw Sasuke off-guard. "Congratulations little brother." Sasuke's eyes widened. Congratulations? Itachi was congratulating him Whhaaaah- "You seem to be able to at leat attempt to lie well enough. Though what you said was completely wrong."

Sasukes InnerSelf's face fell. That was mean.

"We're hunting a group of +Anima and arrest them. It will be a medium-length mission, one month, we should pack a few changes of clothing only because we will not be able to stay in hotels and the like, and we're traveling on foot. The clothing should not be to heavy because the temperature will be quite humid to slightly dry and over-heated. We will travel through forest and farm-land and the trip will be of low, if not non-existent, danger. But you were right about one thing; well need a full group, the +Anima group is quite large. So keep practicing your lies and humility, Otouto. And go tell everyone of the mission. Goodbye now."

Sasuke turned and strutted out the door, eye switching at record-breaking speed. He was just stepping out when the (melodic, not that he'd admit it) voice of his older brother. "Oh, and Sasuke?"

Hand on the mahogany door frame to keep his balance, he turned, face showing signs of irritation only his brother could spot. "Hn?"

His brother smirked, and a sudden feeling of dread filled Sasuke. "This trip... interests me. So... I shall join you."

Sasuke was an Uchiha; Uchiha's are calm and accepting. Sasuke is, as is expected of an Uchiha, calm sand accepting.

That's why said Uchiha chose to shout at the top of his lungs, suddenly slap himself in the face to stop the shrill sound, and prompty start beating himself over the head with the small wooden triangular prism that had his brothers name engraved on a metal plate stuck to it, in stead of going with the initial plan to beat his _brother _over the head with said prism.

* * *

**So, ya like it? This' just intoducing Sasu-chan and 'Tachi-chan. The other's will come later.**

**Also, I'm unsure of pairings. I know I want ItaGaa, and maybe Sasunaru, and maybe InoSaku, or InoHina (If so I'll move Hinata to the other side) (1st Yuri Fanfic), and KakaIru's always a possibility, but the others? Also, if you want me to add in a charrie, just ask and tell me which side (I might change the side, though). Also, Temari and Kankuro are on the other side for a reason. And you think I should put Hina-chan on Sasuke and Itachi and so on's side? You know, the cute little stutterer who sits in the backround and sometimes does the really important stuff? My storyline could go either way.**


	2. Duties

**My next chapter. Grrr, I had to type this up five times! _Five times! _My sister deleted it so many times. I enjoyed writing this, I really did. I love Gaara! And Dei-Dei-chan, and Sasori, and- Anyway, it really was fun. And Ino's necklace is important to one of the turns this story may take (as I said before, I have a couple things I could do). Dedicated to ****shinpachi-is-the-best, my first reviewer ever! Yaya! All hail ****shinpachi-is-the-best!**

* * *

"I WANT FOOD!!!!!!!!" 

Ino sighed and cringed slightly at the sound and volume. The blond at her feet gave her the puppy look and she flicked some of her own blond hair out of her eyes.

Ino was, in one word, beautiful. Overly-pointed ears (think wood elf), long blond hair, creamy pale skin that looked very much like melted white chocolate, and beautiful blue eyes, she wore soft leather knee-high boots, a long-sleeved white shirt, a soft and very velvety brown, green, khaki, black and grey cloak, and a very interesting accessory. Made of a strip of tanned leather about ten centimeters long, and two centimeters wide, the edges were laced with a lighter shoelace string of leather. Two more of these shoelace strings on each side made it long enough to use as a belt, tie around her neck, tie around her forehead, use as a headband, tie around her thigh or any number of things, and she was never seen without it, or the small chain with bells hanging off it at regular intervals that was tucked under her shirt. Both of the groups doctors had the leather bands, but only Ino had the chain.

"Naruto, we hardly have enough food as it is. We can't cater to your every desire." This was Haku speaking, and Gaara made a 'hn' noise to verify this from up in his tree.

They were currently all sitting at the edge of a lake (well, as earlier mentioned, Gaara was in a tree, but still). Every now and again Haku would throw a rock onto the lake and skip it along the water. Naruto had tried this, but failed, and after the hundred and seventh time, he gave up.

This was one of the few times the +Anima were happy. After a long night of traveling through the forest, and then after they had finished setting up camp, they finally had some time to relax and laugh, and they were going to use it to the best of their abilities.

they had traveled on foot for twelve hours straight, along with the rest of their group. It was hard, and made the little ones want to cry, but they had to. They had to escape what they were running from, and find what they were looking for. Or who they were looking for.

A week ago, men on horseback had kidnapped "the little ones". Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon had been taken away from them while they were distracted by a mob of angry villagers ("You ate our children! Monsters!") by four people wearing bizarre outfits with giant purple bows (guess who! XD). The moment the group had escape the villagers, they had went searching for the missing trio, but with no luck. They were still searching, and as they couldn't go into villages ("For our own safety," Iruka had pointed out), thir entire food supply came from hunting, fishing and (something none of them liked to do but they were all good at) stealing. Mainly vegetables and fruit. They stole a few planks of wood so that Kiba could finish fixing a wonky cart, to carry a lot of the essentials (like the dried fruit and meat, clean water, blankets and tents, Shizune and Ino's medical equipment etc), and for when people were sick, or wounded, and it was about the size of a small room, with a small window on the back.

Their relaxation time was ended when Zabuza stepped into the clearing. Zabuza was, underneath all the muscle and gruffness, a nice, caring person. "Alright, you three, off to bed now. Gaara, Kimi said he'd take first watch, he said just because your an insomniac doesn't mean you have to tire yourself out by staying alert. He also said he wants you to make him hot chocolate. You know how much he loves it." Gaara Hned in acknowledgment and swung out of the tree, landing on his feet despite the uneven ground. He knew it was really Zabuza who wanted him to get rest, and Kimimaru would just be forced to take watch by Zabuza, and probably Deidara, Sasori, Anko, Kisame and Shizune (Ino's sister-doctor always wanted him to rest more), too.

The five continued onto the camp, three practically ready to curl in a ball and sleep on the floor, one knowing that after Kimimaru got one cup of the warm cocoa, he would be so hyped that he would_ want_ to keep watch all day/night (wasn't sure what to write, considering it's practically night for them), and one just glad that he was able to get Gaara to rest, even if he would probably just spend the day/night cooking for the evening/morning so that when everyone else woke, they wouldn't have to wait to start traveling, or reading in the cart, or reorganizing the cart so that even more of the groups possesions would fit in the donkey-drawn vehicle.

Finally reaching the small camp at last, each went their separate ways. Ino to the tiny tent (which was more like a blanket stretched between two trees) she shared with Shizune, Tenten, Anko, (she felt tears at the thought) little Moegi, and any other girl that joined their group. Naruto and Haku stayed together, heading for the tent (which was bigger than the girls tent 'cause it had more people to host) the shared with Kiba, Lee, Konohamaru (before he was captured), Udon (Again, before he was taken away) and again, any +Anima boy who suddenly stopped by for a night. Zabuza went to go meet Iruka, Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, Obito and Kimimaru in their tent, where he could get "Kimi-chan" into taking watch. Gaara headed for the cart, planning on reading one of the medical books after he finished making hot chocolate for said Kimi-chan.

"Night!" Naruto called as he skipped along, Haku in tow. Haku raised a hand to Zabuza, Ino and Gaara, and Gaara gave a 'hn' and and a nod in turn, and Ino smiled, tilting her head to the left. "Night Gaara, Haku, Naruto, Zabuza."

No more was exchanged in the group as they suddenly felt the weight of their travels, stumbling like drunks to bed.

* * *

Sasuke slammed his palm down on the table, the force sending a thin crack along its length. Cries of "Whhhah?!" and the like were heard around the room. 

Well, you couldn't blame them. It's not every day you're asked to pick up and travel for a month with just an hours warning, much less to hunt something. Especially people! Come on, this was from the Emperor! Sure, he never openly opposed the treatment of +Anima, but support it? What was going on!

Sasuke seemed... how to say it?... Pissed. He hadn't yet told them that Itachi was coming. He knew Itachi would be in charge of the trip, and he hated the thought. These trips were the one time when _he_ was in charge, and not his brother!

Sakura was swooning over the thought of spending an entire month with "Sasuke-kun". The pink-haired, clingy zit had decided that it would be then she would admit her love (pfft like she already hadn't enough!) for the raven-haired teen (how they can be so young yet so high in rank, no-one knows).

The white-haired sannin was freaking out inside. _What if it were Orochimaru's group? _Sure, he didn't think the other Sannin from his childhood days would get caught; he just feared seeing what the man had become. Not on the outside, though he feared that, to. What he was on the inside.

Neji... Neji was just surprised. I mean, even our white-eyed friend couldn't predict this. It was too... surprising.

Shino just leant against the wall like always. He was probably the only one who hadn't exclaimed something in surprise.

_What if it's him...? No... It... can't be... _The brother and sister pair were fretting. Well, more like freaking. If the room had windows, they would've jumped out.

The man of water faked worry on the outside. On the inside... he was plotting. Silly Mizuki.

OH DEAR KAMI! What if... what if it's them? Images of three children flashed through Kakashi's dirty head. A boy in goggles... a boy in a mask... and the last, with a scar across his nose...

Baki was just... being Baki. _This is not good for my joints._

Hinata was freaked. Also unconscious on the floor. Hey, she's Hinata. What'd you expect?

Kurenai's mind was a mess of bleeding chibis. _Those idiots! Damn it! They'll get themselves killed, and we won't be able to save them, 'cause we're** freakin' on the other side!**_

_Oh, crap._ Asuma's mind was much the same.

* * *

**So, what'd you think? I put the thoughts of all the people in their 'cause... actually, I dunno. I like what what Baki says. He he, he's the oldest, even out of the Sannin. And I ended up with Hinata on Itachi's side (that sounds wierd), but undercover for our little bloody chibi's. Please, review! If you review, I give cookies AND (to the first person to review) a dedicated chappie! 'Til next week!  
**

**Love, Kawa-chan+Hearts+  
**


	3. The Gang

**This chapter isn't dedicated to anyone, because no-one reviewed! Waaah!!!!!!!!**

* * *

Itachi had no idea _what_ he was doing.

Arms behind his back, eyes facing forward, Itachi paced back and forth. Should I have done it? Was he right? He was confused. Uchiha's were never confused.

It's not like he wanted to be an Uchiha. He snorted at the thought.

Speaking (or thinking, whatever) of important families...

He gave a worried glance at the letter on his desk. It was from the Emperor. The Emperor trusted him. He was abusing that trust.

He sighed. He couldn't stay any longer, fun as his pacing was. Drowning in his own sarcasm, he left. He had one long month ahead of him. And it probably wouldn't be worth all the trouble he would go through afterwards.

* * *

"Aaagh, grrr, aaagh, grrr..."Naruto snored through the night when suddenly he heard the _"Whap!"_ of a bow and two sharp screams. He shot up in bed. What if someone was hurt? He'd need Ino.

Springing out of the tent, he noticed that no-one else was awake. Well, they had been traveling for twelve hours. It was understandable they'd be tired.

Ino's tent was on the other side of the wagon, which was in the middle of the camp. Tip-toeing around it (he wanted to avoid waking others), he realized she was already awake. Only when he was fully around it did he realize what was going on.

Standing between a frozen, wide-eyed Ino and now him, was Gaara and Kimimaru. Kimimaru had a bow, and a quiver of arrows hung on his back. Gaara had two knives, about twenty centimeters long each, and was in a defensive position. On the other side of him was a startled group of four, a tall male teen and a pair of young boys surrounding an even younger girl. They seemed to have stumbled here after... a brawl? The thump he had heard was from the arrow buried in the ground at their feet; a warning.

Naruto made his presence known by clearing his throat loudly. Everyone turned to look at him. "Ah..." He hadn't planned this far.

He tilted his head, smiled, and waved. "Hello! I'm Naruto. This groups a group of..." He glanced at Gaara for confirmation. The red-head nodded. "This is a group of children who have no homes!" Well, it was... kind of true. Kind of.

One of the boys, the one with a staff and a (pretty cool, but ripped) poncho thingy, narrowed his eyes, and Naruto felt like someone was inspecting his stomach... with a knife. Very... uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Nauto felt a presence behind him. Without looking, he smiled and tilted his head. "Haku, hello."

"Hey, blondie. I woke up Deidara, and Kiba too, he'll be here in a-"

"Hey, un."

"Akamaru was still sleeping. I didn't want to wake him."

"YOSH! Reverence! Kiba has reverence! Show you youth through reverence! YOUTH!!!!!!!"

"Speak of the devil."

"Why's Lee here?"

"..."

"So, what _are_ you doing?" This was Gaara. The tattoo-ed +Anima narrowed his eyes at the other group. "We, uh..." This was the small, flowery girl of the mentioned other group. "We..."

She was interrupted by poncho-boy. "Shush, Nana." It was said ignorantly, but had an underlying layer of affection., and under _that _was a message neither of the groups missed._ "I'll handle this, Nana. Follow my lead."_

The girl made a "Hmph," sound, but it was an agreement, and an acknowledgment of the message. The other boy scratched the back of his head, and the eldest tilted his head slightly, making his beads click together. Little things that should've gone unnoticed, was it not that their group did the same thing.

"We... Are also orphans." This was said with only slight hesitation by the boy, and he sent a meaningful glance at his friend.

"Ah, that's lucky. Now the others won't find it weird if we invite you to stay with us, if only for a while." This startled all of them, except maybe Gaara, as it wasn't one of them who spoke. They turned their heads to the noise to see Iruka lounging in a tree, one leg hanging down and swinging. Naruto smiled, and Haku raised a hand in greeting. Deidara and Ino greeted him with words. "Hello, 'Ruka-sensei."

"Hey, Iruka, un."

"Anyway, as I was saying, why don't you join us? I'll get Gaara to cook!"

"Don't abuse my cooking skill, Iruka."

"My, my, no 'sensei'?"

"You were never my teacher."

"... Point taken."

Majority of this was hidden messages, though Gaara _was_ a good cook. _"why don't you join us? I'll get Gaara to cook!"_symbolized, "Maybe they can join us? (directed at the people on his side) Gaara will agree!" and_ "Don't abuse my cooking skill, Iruka."_ meant "Don't use the fact you're older than me, Iruka." Then _"My, my, no 'sensei'?" _meant, "My, my, no respect?" Continuing in this fashion, _"You were never my teacher." _Means, "I respect no-one, as you very well know." In conclusion, _"... Point taken."_ meant basically, "Okay, okay." Secret argument? Yes'm. Iruka actually giving up on letting the kids (even though one was his age) go?... To much parental instinct, if you ask me.

"So?" The group exchanged a quick glance, then looked back at them. The one with feathers in his hair grinned. "Sure!"

* * *

"So, what's with the travel-at-night-and-sleep-at-day-with-a-lookout-posted?" 

This was the girl, Nana. They were currently packing away their camp, and, as they had nothing to do, they were assisting Gaara in handing out the sandwiches and soup Gaara had (grudgingly) made. It was really good, too.

Gaara inwardly sighed. That girl reminded him to much of Konohamaru, only... y'know... female. "We're looking for someone."

"And...?"

"Traveling at night is faster. Less traffic."

"But... you travel along the stream. No-one else is ever here."

"Shut up."

silence. Silence. Silence. Sil-

"WOW! I love this soup!" Cooro. The one with the feather. Gaara glared. Any comment on his cooking was an insult, even complements. "So-rey." He said stubbornly and a little ignorantly. Gaara's eyes narrowed even more than they had been before and he snarled slightly. "Just because Iruka welcomed you, doesn't mean everyone has."

With that, he spun on his heel and, black cloak billowing, stormed off. Husky and Cooro shared a glance and a shrug. Senri just stood in the backround.That guy -Gaara- was _weird._

* * *

"Oh, shut up, Haruno!" 

Sasukes eye twitched for the- even Kami had lost count by now time at the girl clinging onto him like a leech. He hated her! HATE! But yet she clung to his arm like- had he said she was a leech yet?

The moment they had started moving, she had _leapt _on his arm like a feral beast. He had hoped she'd be too distracted to why Itachi was leading, but _nooo,_ the Gods just had to go and make her a fan girl! A _Sasuke_ fangirl! Why did life have to hurt him this way?!

Kurenai and Asuma looked quiet and spooked. Odd for them. And whenever they could, they started whispered conversations in harsh voices, as if they were arguing.

That confused him. What was going on? Why were they worried?... Of course, being Sasuke, and an Uchiha, he wasn't worried. Or curious. Just... confused and slightly interested.

Itachi, too, noticed the difference, and it was freaking him out. His mind was a mess of, "What if they found the letter?" and "Oh my god! Maybe they know what I'm doing!!!! Damnit, what do I do!?!?!" Then, he calmed.

It was ok. If they knew, they would've approached him. And they hadn't- at least not yet. So for now, he was safe.

The Dark angel was still safe, and, in everyone elses eyes, gone forever.

* * *

**So, how'd you like it? Oh, and Kiba will be in soon. Remember, first to review gets a dedicated chappie al for them!**

**Kawa-chan +Hearts+  
**


	4. Scary puppets and a pile of questions

**Disclaimer- No, Itachi hasn't kidnapped Gaara and taken him to a magical land of blood, gore and hot ninja yaoi. Guess I'll just have to keep trying!**

**Warnings- ... I like coffee. And cafeine in general. **

**Ok, a new chapter for you all! And I'm really sorry that I don't have another chapter of Big Niisan or Those Left Behind! I couldn't write another chapter, 'cause as my non-yaoi-loving friend was here, I had no chance to write them up, but I'm going to give you a special one-shot next week as a peace offering! Sadly, no-one reviewed- except shinpachi, who always reviews and that's why I love 'im!- so I'm gonna dedicate it to a story I recently read- My Best Friend Is Dead. It's a really good story by Nactare. Anyway, here it is!  
**

* * *

Gaara's eye twitched. It had been two weeks since they had been joined by the four, Senri, Nana, Cooro and Husky, and the girl Nana had taken it upon herself to _personlly torture him through any means necessary_. She helped him with the cooking, tidied his books, folded his blanket when he wasn't looking, talked to him, joined in conversations he had with other people,and was generally annoying. He hated her.

They hadn't told the four they were +Anima. Naruto, as well as not wanting to loose his new friends, had not wanted to cause the scene telling someone you were an +Anima always did. They couldn't afford to catch the attention. So while they were with the four, they were stuck without powers.

"Gaara?" Nana had stopped using prefixes after an hour. She had _tried _to call him "Gaa-chan" like Ino, Haku, Naruto, and, well, the entire camp, but stopped after the first time.

He turned an irritable/irritated look on her. "What, Pinkie." He found it entertaining to see how angry she got when he called her that, and he noticed the signs now. "What are we cooking for breakfast?" InnerGaara was shocked and appauled. How _dare_ she interrupt him with that? And why did she say 'we'?!

Thinking of breakfast, he suddenly realized that they ate breakfast while other, more normal people ate dinner. Well, they weren't normal people, were they? So they ate dinner at breakfast and breakfast at dinner.

Him and Pinkie set to preparing the sausages and eggs.

* * *

They had been traveling for three days now, camping at night and traveling at day, and they had all gotten pretty used to it. Hinata had somehow managed to obtain a small book in spanish (she was fluent), Jiraiya had been busy thinking up a title for his new book (And getting many nosebleeds in the process), Itachi had often just walked ahead of everyone and came back when it was time to set up camp, Sakura continued to cling to Sasuke and Sasuke still continued to attempt to shake her off, Neji was practicing telling the future, Shino was... hiding in trees with his creepy-crawly friends, Temari was reading a romance novel the size of the Titanic, Kankuro was fixing his favorite puppet, Karasu, no-one cared what Mizuki was doing, Kakashi was reading Jiraiya's newest book, Azuma and Kurenai were still arguing, and Baki was filling himself with green tea ("for my joints," he said). Sasuke was supervising the setting up of camp when Sakura suddenly spoke. Immediately, Sasuke set his brain to Sakura-the-fangirl-reject-mode. 

"Hey, look!" Irritably, Sasuke turned to look at her. Itachi, being the good leader he was, looked up from where he was hammering in tent pegs to tilt his head at her in question in a most kawaii and Anime-ish way. "Yes, Sakura-san?"

"There's another group! Over there, across the row of trees." Many heads turned to see a large party sitting in a circle. There was about eighteen people visible, including a small girl dressed in an old, pink dress who was running around and serving people. a blonde seemed to be entertaining the others with stories, though he was obviously not the oldest, and the entire group seemed to hold the air of the weary, yet it was tainted with laughter and relaxation. Itachi was the first to speak.

"Well, let's say we go greet them, shall we?" So the fourteen-person group promptly went and took a rest from setting up to go meet the people on the other side of the trees.

* * *

"Nana, can I have more eggs please?" 

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Said girl called out to Cooro, chucking him a glance over her shoulder, she smiled. She knew he wanted to reassure her and comfort her; not being able to fly, or stretch her wings for so long, even after they had gone so long before this. She frowned slightly; he should worry about his _own_ wings, not hers. She trotted towards the fire, which had been placed behind the cart so that ingredients were conveniently accessed. "Gaara! We need more eggs!" A muffled voice came from the roofed and walled cart. "Yeah, yeah, just let me find the eggs."

Nana trotted back toward the camp group to relay Gaara's message to Cooro, hair bobbing up and down. Stepping out from behind a tent, she froze.

What was going on?

* * *

First thing Naruto saw was a flash of a shade of pink that looked like throw up on a rotten pink rose. "What the hell is that?" Came Kiba's voice from the backround. Second thing was a hunk of blond hair. The next was a crazy wooden puppet wearing a pink and yellow spotted jumpsuit. The third was a pair of red eyes that seemed to spin in the dusk light. And finally, a large group burst from the clearing. 

Two of the boys seemed to be brothers. They both had raven hair and pale skin, slim features and perfect faces, and one of them, the one with red eyes, wore a long cloak with red clouds. The pink flash had been a girl with disgusting hair and hangover-puke green eyes to match (heh heh I hate Sakura-puke-fangirl). A boy in sunglasses and lab-coat, a man with long white hair, a boy with lavender eyes and super-long hair, a man with blue hair (I think that's what color Mizuki's hair is), an old guy (guess who?), another pair of siblings, a guy in a mask, and- Naruto had to refrain from sprinting towards the three and bear-hugging them. Instead, he nudged Haku and the two stood up. He raised a hand in greeting. He knew exactly who they all were, but he couldn't let them know that.

"Hello! I'm Naruto and this' Haku. You are...?"

It was the oldest dark-haired sibling, the one with the eyes, spoke first. "Itachi. I'm the leader. This' my otouto, Sasuke, he's second in command. Who's the leader?" Naruto suddenly realized that he looked to young to be leader. The leader is... Iruka-sensei's our leader! I'll get 'im!" Naruto spun on his heel and waved the older teen over. "Iruka-sensei, this' Itachi. He asked for the leader, so I called you over." Iruka caught the message in the boys words and nodded.

"Hello, I'm Iruka. So, what was I called over for?" The pink-haired girl started and then spoke. "Uh... I'm Sakura. We saw you through the trees and wanted to say hi. Uh... Hi!" It was the older male, Itachi, who spoke next. "I'm sorry, but out of curiosity I must ask;where are you traveling?"

Iruka was caught off guard. "We're... uh, we're..." Naruto barged in to save him quickly. "We're traveling North!"

That seemed to interest the older boy. "Oh, really? Well, if that's so..." He hadn't asked Sasuke, or anyone else for that matter, but here goes nothing. Or maybe everything. "...Can we come with?"

* * *

**Okay, Itachi meets Naruto. Where is Gaara? What's the relationship between Naruto and the Three? What is Gaara going to do about his relatives? Why does Kankuro dress Karasu in scary clothing? What happened to Cooro's eggs? Find out next week in Hunters, Hunted, Truths**, **Lies!** **Remember, the first person to review gets a chapter dedicated to them! Love you all, please review!  
**

**Kawa-Chan +Heart+**


	5. Egg Perfection

"Where is that frilly brat, damnit!"

Gaara had found the eggs fifteen minutes earlier and had promptly began cooking them. They were cooked to egg perfection. Egg perfection! And that lacy pile of child doesn't come to collect it. It was probably cold now, too.

Grumbling to himself, Gaara stood. Dusting off nonexistent dirt and grass, he headed for the campsite.

* * *

While everyone from the camps got acquainted, Kiba pulled Nana aside. The normally loud boy and dog pair looked sullen and on edge, and it was putting Nana on edge, too. 

"Nana," he whispered , "I need you to take a message to... Cookie-chan." Nana understood immediately who he was talking about, but didn't say it. There seemed a reason for not doing so. "Tell him... Tell him String-Fingers and Air-Head have arrived. Cloth-Ugly, too. Tell him to hide at day and follow us at night. It is crucial that no-one sees him, them especially, and that they'll be traveling with us for awhile. If he needs anything, sneak in at night; Dog-boy'll take up night watch to bring him food, blankets, whatever, and update him on the situation. Got that?"

Nana nodded tightly. "Yeah, I got it."

* * *

The moment Kiba left, Nana felt a surge of urgency. She raced around the edge of the tent that she had earlier been frozen at. 

And smashed into Gaara. Her eyes widened so much she almost tripped under their weight. She grabbed the older boys wrist and dragged him into the rickety cart. The moment the door was closed, he pulled back his wrist and started to massage it. Stupid girl!

He was about to tell her that when he stopped at the sight of her face. It was nervous and the half-smile was strained. He waited as she caught her breath. "Gaara... Kiba... String-Fing...! Air-Head! Ugly-Cloth! Follow... night... watch... later..."

She flinched and stopped talking when he grabbed her shoulders. He shook her slightly, then again harder. "What?!" He was hysterical by the time she began to speak again.

"Kiba... Told me... to tell you... that Air-Head, and String-Fingers, and Cloth-Ugly... That they've come with another group. Travel at night... catch up... He'll wait with food and information at night. No-one can see you. No-one."

The red head nodded quickly and began to wrap some books and clothing, and food, in a blanket as the girl ran out of the cart and back to the camp. It would be better for them not to notice her departure.

* * *

This was infuriating. He wasn't allowed to show that he knew anyone, not even Hina-chan. Just great! 

Wait... he wasn't allowed to show anyone that he knew them before this, but he could definitely, say, build a new relationship! Well, that's what everyone on the other side would think. He strode over to her. A sense of happiness overtook him as she looked up in surprise and smiled warmly.

"Hello. I'm Inuzuka Kiba. You are...?"

"I-I'm Hinata. N-nice to me-meet you, Inuzuka-san!"

Kiba grinned at the girl who smiled shyly. "Call me Kiba. What're you reading?"

She closed the book, finger keeping the page, and read out the title. Then, remembering he didn't speak Spanish, stuttered, "Uh, I'm sorry, Kiba-kun! It's called 'Simple Mistakes, by S. Neught Mifault." They both laughed at the authors joke.

"So, I take it you're fluent in Spanish...?"

* * *

Even if their discussion was going smoothly, that didn't mean everyone was that lucky. "Teme! Gimme back my shoe!" 

Many watched the two run in circles and shout insults at each other, both laughing on the inside and the out. Those two...

"Why don't you come get it, dobe?" The sound of evil laughter rang in the clearing. "Damn you, teme! DAMN YOU!" Naruto lunged at Sasuke, only to have the other boy move a moment before impact, causing Naruto to fall face-first into the ground. "Baka. You can't even _stand_ properly!" The sound of growling. "Stupid Emo-Teme-chan!"

"Wow, so original. You should write a book. I'll draw the pictures."

"ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!"

"I don't think that jumpsuit is the right shade of orange to imitate a tiger."

"DON'T SPEAK OF THE ORANGE LIKE THAT!"

"I'm not even sure if that counts as orange."

"TEME!!!!!! Owch, my foot!"

"'S not my fault you're not wearing shoes."

"TEME!"

"Will you two SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND!" All heads turned to see Ino and Haku. Ino had a fist raised threateningly and Haku's eye was twitching a hundred miles a second (Twitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitchtwitch...). "Thankyou." Suddenly, a high-pitched, squeally voice rent the air. Everyone flinched and from where he sat Kiba's left ear started bleeding. "DON'T YOU TALK TO SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT!" And so it continued.

* * *

Later that night, the three (well, from two of the groups angles; the last group thought two) groups sat around the fire. It was silent; a comfortable silence. The largest group was quite happy, actually; because it would seem weird, they hadn't left at night, and so they got extra rest, and it was great. Just what they needed actually. The air of weariness had left them, and they weren't freaking out as much. Of course, generally it was Gaara who got angry at these sorts of things, along with Zabuza, Kisame, Shizune...Just to mention a few of many. But he wasn't here, and they had dropped their guard. 

The one thing that suffered was the cooking. Sure, Nana was ok, and she had Ino and Hinata's help (Tenten was busy and Sakura was a stuck up pimple on the face of the earth), but it wasn't as good as Gaara's cooking. No-one knew why Gaara had such a talent, or even how, but he did, and it was fantastic.

After a while, the gathering splitted and left for various tents (the team of Govamen Officials had moved their tents next to the others earlier, and yes, I wanted to spell Govamen like that. Kiba sat on the edge of the enclosed cart, the doors open to let in a breeze. He got bored. Then boreder. And finally, when at his borderest (I know those two words were spelt wrong, but that's just how Kiba thinks, no offense to any Kiba fans.) he noticed a presence approaching him. _Hm, too big to be Gaara,_ He thought, then laughed, knowing how angry the chibi would get if he heard that.

As the figure got closer, he realized it was more then one person. It was four. He raised a hand in greeting. "Obito, Deidara, Sasori, Kimi." In return, he received a 'hn' from Sasori, a cheerful "Hello!" from Obito (Sorry, all I know about Obito is from Fanfics and Naruto fansites. I haven't seen him yet), a "Greetings, Little-One," from Kimimaru (he was weird without Gaara's food), and a "Kiba-chan-chan-chan-kun, yeah!"... Need I say more?

He shifted from where he was sitting to give them room to enter. "What're you guys doing here?" They sat down cross-legged in the small cart, and shifted into sembalance of comfort before answering. "We came to wait for Gaara-Gaara-chan-chan, un!"

* * *

** Love, Kawa-chan +Hearts+**


	6. The time in which Temari is tonguetied

Ok! I haven't posted in a while, but I just released a chapter in my other fic and a oneshot songfic shonen ai called 'Unspoken words of Gratitude'. You should read it, it's good!

Anyway, on to the story!

* * *

Kiba stretched his hands high above his head, yawning a bit. 

Gaara had arrived at about midnight, and luckily had been smart enough to have an earlier prepared flagon of tea- about enough to last Kimimaru a day- and Kiba was glad for it, too. The guy was getting scary without his "Precious Nectar of Life and Restoration" (As he called it every time he thought he needed to shout it to the world). Gaara had stayed an hour collecting items earlier forgotten, giving them messages for the others and receiving news about the situation. Then, when he had only a precious five hours of sleep remaining, Kimimaru kept him up an hour and a half at least talking incessantly and, after that, it took him an entire hour to get to sleep. So, all in all, because he woke at six, he had only two and a half hours of sleep. A restless and altogether pointless sleep.

"Dogface, you look terrible. It's as if you didn't sleep at all. Either that or you have a drug addiction-"

Kiba twisted on his heel to see who his interrogator/insulter was, for his ears didn't seem to be able to detect it because of fatigue. But Satan decided the ground wanted to pay Kiba a visit and he tripped, falling towards it.

If it hadn't been for the boys interrogator catching him in his arms, Kiba would've met the grass in a most painful manner. It seems, though, that Satan is a very persistent torture master, because both Kiba and the other were pulled to the ground, Kiba asleep and the one who ended up trapped under him knocked out by a particularly evil rock.

Yes, this was a compromising situation indeed.

* * *

Husky woke up at about five forty-five that morning, intent on being up before anyone else could. As he wandered, who the hell should he stumble upon but his cute, tail-wagging puppy friend? 

Okay, so this morning his tail wasn't wagging and he only looked cute 'cause he was dog-boy, and they weren't exactly friends, especially since they had never even talked before... but he was still Husky's. At least from Husky's point of view.

The dog boy of Husky's adoration started to turn and, to cover up the fact he was staring, he pulled a face.

"Dogface, you look terrible. It's as if you didn't sleep at all. Either that or you have a drug addiction-"

Before he could continue, Doggy-chan seemingly tripped on his heel and fell into his chest, knocking him to the floor where he fell, half fainted from shock, half knocked unconscious by a hated rock.

So that's how the unconscious pair were found: Husky, spread eagled in the dirt with a blush brushing his face, and Kiba, curled up on his chest with a content expression on his face.

* * *

Naruto smirked and wolf-whistled, then burst in to loud laughter. Sasuke, from where he was trying to shake Sakura from his arm in an at least slightly dignified manner, looked at him irritably. 

"What, dobe?" He said in a pompous and slightly air headed tone. Naruto just glared, stuck out his tongue and waved them over with one hand. Sasuke, slightly curious at the "Thing that made Naruto not insult him", shoved Sakura off him and onto the dirty remainders of the fire last night and stood up, dusted off his person all traces of Sakura and strolled over to where Naruto's waving was becoming ever the more frantic and the mouth his hand was attempting to cover was releasing little giggles of laughter.

He turned to round the small wagon and stopped. The corner of his mouth dropped slightly and he had to use his full Uchiha mentality not to burst into laughter and scare Naruto to death.

There, curled up on the ground, lay two of Naruto's groups male population, and from the look on the smaller one's face, it was a very nice position to be in indeed.

Iruka rounded the corner and he sighed at the sight of the two boys. He rubbed his temple, pushing a few strands of hair behind his ear (not that they stayed there, though; they fell out before he knew it every time and now the action was just habit enforced). "Okay... Naruto will you help me move them under a tree at least? They can't sleep here all day."

It was worked out after about twenty minutes to realize that every time they tried to separat the two, Kiba would hold on tighter. It took them another two minutes to realize nothing would work - not even Naruto's idea of prying them apart with a shovel. After that, they just dragged Husky under the closest shady tree - they didn't even need to do anything about Kiba, he was stuck to Husky like a limpet.

After they had manage to get the pair under the tree, others started to wake.

First came much of Naruto's group; Kimimaru, Ino, Shizune, Zabuza and some others. Then Itachi and a tired looking Sakura, followed by Temari, Kankurou with his puppets, and Anko and Hinata.

Once everyone, including Kiba and Husky, was awake, break fast was had.

Today, conversation over break fast was lacking slightly. Every now and again, someone would bring a topic up in attempts to lighten the mood, but it didn't work.

Itachi noted boredly that Temari, one of the most talkative people he knew, wasn't saying anything. in fact, she was simply sitting there, fiddling with her sleeve and looking as if a ghost had just foreseen her death.

At least that's what he theorized before she stood and coughed slightly.

Everyone turned expectantly to her and she looked groundward, fiddling with the hem of her shirt nervously.

Strange ... mused Itachi. She almost seems like Hinata ...

As if she just remembered everyone looking at her, she looked up. "Um ... Yesterday night ... uh, last night ... well, early this morning ... I, uh ... I saw something ... I couldn't sleep ... so I went fr a walk." She took a deep breath. "And ... and while on my walk ... I saw a boy." She pushed a few strands of hair away from her face before continuing. "Um ... the boy had red hair ... and sea green eyes ... and - and-" She took a deep breath.

"And I think he was my brother."

* * *

Love, Kawa-chan +Hearts!+ 


	7. Double Digits

_Once upon a time there were ten beasts ..._

_The ten beasts each had a number that corresponded with the amount of tails they had._

_The first, the Raven, had one brilliant tail. The Raven was a fantastic flier, Aand would swoop through the air on a rainy day, for those were his favorite. Like each of the Beasts, his favorite Power and the one he had mastered was that of Air._

_His sister, the Eagle, boasted two. The Eagle enjoyed sculpting, a fine artist, and a great war strategist, too, but she was not the least bit gloating. She was also given the title, "Queen Mayhem", for the explosions she caused created massive destruction, and most were her unique clay bombs._

_The third, the Wolf, was a fantastic hunter with three brilliant tails and a nose for animals and blood alike. He preferred the hot sand as his power, and used it as his main weapon as he hunted for animals. He did not associate much with eight of the nine other animals.  
_

_The fourth, the beautiful Jaguar, had a total of four brilliant spotted tails, and she was the fastest of them all, though her heart was cold. She was quite close to the Eagle, and the two often played war games together, though unlike the Eagle, her big thing was torture - which gave her the name "Nightmare", though as she had a heart of ice, she could not understand psychological torture, focusing mainly on physical pain. Her weapon was ice._

_The fifth, the Lioness, held herself like a queen and had the mind of a leader, though leader she was not. She read much on the study of medicine and the dead, her aim in life being to find immortality for her king - for how was she to know she would live for ever? Her main power was that of nature, her having to study it in the field of medicine._

_Her best friend and the sixth, the Coyote, had fantastic agility, and his eyes were as pale as pearls and very large. He loved water but he could not swim, something he was greatly ashamed of and would hide it from everyone. He was, though, a telekinetic, but hid it from all because he thought himself bad at it, though his talent was extraordinary. A shy animal, he stayed in his cave near the creek and practiced his telekinesis._

_Though his eyes were big, they were not as big as those of the seventh, the wise Owl, the smartest of them all and another beautiful huntress. She controlled the night, in all its spiraling black mass, and was a quiet woman with elegant brown feathers._

_The Panther, as black as night, was the most beautiful of the ten, and all held her in high regard, for she was able to bend the mind into seeing what was not there. She was the illusionist, the controller, and could twist peoples minds in to doing deeds they would never do without. Her golden eyes watched from the shadows._

_The ninth, the Fox, was the trickster, the one with the poisoned knife in his belt, had nine brilliant red tails. He was the least loyal to their master, but the most willing, for he would do much for the eight other beasts, his family of sorts, though little affection was given to them directly. He had the temper of fire, burning brightly, and it was his skill, as well._

_But the tenth, the Snake, was different. He led the other nine beasts like a god, though a self appointed one. His sharp, black scales formed a crown upon his head, and he seemed to cherish each of his nine subjects as if they were his children. When one was injured he would be there for them. He seemed to love them all, but it could've easily been a mirage, for he was not one to care for anyone. He was the boaster of ten scaled tails and a smart one indeed. He ruled the enormous, empty lands of his kingdom with an iron fist that rarely had to show its anger - for only nine others lived on his kingdom, and each worshiped him land loved him._

_The ten Beasts lived on the great mountain, named 'Biju'. The mountain was beautiful, though the only inhabitants were the Ten - not even ants dared cross into the border of their lands, one of the reasons the mountain was named Biju - it was a warning about the Nine beasts and their leader, the name meaning Ten Tails. The mountains were a beautiful place._

_One day, Manda - for that was the name of the Snake - decided he wanted the rest of the world to be his own, too. So he approached Ao - for that was the name of the Eagle - and proposed the idea of war. She was wary of the idea, but agreed, and so Manda set off to inform Shukaku - for that was the name of the Wolf - as Shukaku was his best treated and favorite of the other Nine. Manda, you see, treasured Shukaku, the youngest of the Ten, and he wrapped his Tails around the hunter and cooed to him about his plans._

_"And me and you shall rule together, my dear," He cooed to the blood thirsty Shukaku, and the Wolf let out a mew of happiness, curling closer to the Snake._

_But no-one saw the two's affection towards each other, for they were in the basement of the castle,far away from the roost of Ao as she told the others of her orders._

_And Juken - for that was the name of the poor, shy Coyote - had hid in the corner, fearing the predicament._

* * *

"And I think he was my brother." 

The words were met with silence. For no-one knew what to say.

"Your brother?" Whispered Nana, for she now knew very well how this fit together. The only piece of the puzzle missing, though, came from the center, the very middle.

Temari took a deep breath. "Yes. My brother. You see ... Well, when we were little, our ... our dad-"

"Temari-" said Kankurou warningly, but Temari ignored him, and let out a shuddering breath.

"Kankurou, it's ... it's time.

"I never particularly loved my youngest brother. Well, what do you expect? I was raised to hate - no, fear him. Well, I guess it would be more appropriate to start at the beginning ... One day fifteen years ago, when I was five and Kankurou four -"

"Temari," Repeated Kankurou again, more menacingly this time around.

"Kankurou, shut up! It has to be said ..." Whispered Temari, and it was now the people around her noticed her shaking legs. Itachi motioned for her to sit, but she did nothing but continue speaking.

"Well, mother had a baby. We were all for it - all of us but her twin, Uncle Yashamaru. He said child birth would be too taxing for her - She was sick, you see. But she said it didn't matter to her. Whether she died or lived it didn't matter, she said."

"When the baby was born, he was a beautiful baby, with brilliant red hair and pale skin, and enormous sea green eyes that seemed to pull you in. But he had an odd birth mark on his forehead. It was strange, no, beyond strange - the same color as his hair, it - it was the kanji for love."

"Uncle Yashamaru said it was a sign the boy was evil, and he and mother had a fight about it. He stormed out and when we went back in to see if she was ok, she was just sitting there, our new baby brother held to her chest as she sobbed. We went to enter the room, but Uncle Yashamaru came back to us, and took us outside to the garden, and away from our crying mother -"

"Temari, I swear, if you go any further -" The threatening tone wasn't even have hidden from Kankurous voice, and Temari spun around, eyes narrowed.

"You'll what, Kankurou?! What?!" Her younger brother was silent and she sighed.

"Look, Temari, what if it wasn't him you saw last night-"

"And what if it was?" Temaris voice was cold as she eyes him. "Look Kankurou, you can go around and pretend that he doesn't exist and that it never happened, but I can't. You're going to have to face it sooner or later - and for your own sake, your own sanity and own life, make it sooner."

He stared at her silently then nodded, and Temari went back to her story telling.

But suddenly she was unsure of herself. Was this the right thing to do? Oh, kami, she thought, please let me be right. "But when we came back, our father was just sitting at the kitchen table silently. The moment Uncle Yashamaru saw him, he rushed over to him and they went in to mothers room. We tried to follow them, to see what was wrong, but the door was locked and they ignored our banging.

"When father and Uncle Yashamaru finally came out of mothers room hours later, Uncle was holding our brother carefully to his chest. Our brother wasn't asleep - we could see his eyelids opening and closing every now and then as he blinked. Neither father nor Yashamaru stopped us when we went and pushed open the door to mothers room - though to this day, I'm unsure if that was a good thing or a bad one.

"The entire room was painted red. Not just any red, mind - blood red. The color of our brothers hair. And in the middle of it all ... in the middle of it all was mother.

"I can still remember what she looked like to every bite mark - every blossom of red. Hell, she was completely red - not even her hair was brown anymore. It was stained red.

"All I could think was that a wolf had attacked her. It was - it was terrible. I can't believe it happened - to this day I still look for some way to escape the truth. Of course, at that age I didn't know what had happened. I didn't have all the information. Hey, I still don't. To this day, fifteen years later and I still don't know what exactly happened to my mother that day.

"But the years went on. Father seemed reluctant to let our little brother out of the house. He wasn't even allowed in the garden. When people were over, he was always conveniently in the basement - his jail. He wasn't allowed out of the basement.

"Another odd thing. Whenever people asked father how his family, or life in general were for him, he never made any reference to our brother. He would just say, 'Oh, good, good. Kankurou is getting better at carving and Temari is the most beautiful little angel'. No-one ever asked about him, either. He didn't go to school like us - Uncle Yashamaru claimed that he gave him private lessons at home. We knew it was a lie.

"Once, when I was six, I went up to father and asked him if I could play with my baby brother, because Kitty - chan - the name I used to give Kankurou when I was that age and he didn't get angry and embarrassed at me for it - was at a friends house and I was lonely, and also because I didn't see him and I wanted to be his favorite sibling. And do you know what father did? He slapped me in the face and sent me to bed. The next morning when I woke up, he apologized for hitting me but then commanded that I never do it again.

"And once when I was seven, Kankurou came home from school with his friend. And his friend asked father if he was allowed to hold Gaara because his motherwas pregnant and he wanted to see if he could hold a baby properly so that he could prove to his mother that hecould and so that when the baby was born, he could hold it.

"Father ordered the boy to go home and sent Kankurou to bed with orders not to come out for a week.

"After another year, when I was eight, we basically forgot about him, forgot our little brother in the basement. Well, we never talked about him or saw him, so it was hard to remember. Then one day, the day after Kankurous birthday if I remember correctly, Kankurou and I were home alone. And Kankurou came up with the idea of exploring the basement. And though we didn't remember much about our baby brother, we both knew we weren't allowed to go in the basement for some reason or another. And that was one of the reasons it was such a good idea.

"After a while, we finally built up enough courage to actually go in to the basement, and when we opened the door ...

"... Well, let's just say all respect and love for my father and my uncle alike disappeared as I saw what was behind that low door.

* * *

**Ok ... I suddenly had to write a chapter that was over 2220 words long. It was necessary. And about Shukaku suddenly becoming a wolf? That is not to be commented on in reviews. Seriously, just don't. It was a great idea, yes. Admit it, Shukaku is better as a Wolf. Hey! I just realized that this could be seen to make up for my lack of updates! Yay! Also, no mentioning the Ten Beasts being, well ... ten. Versus nine. But you'll see why. **

**Love, Kawa-chan +Hearts!+ **


	8. Love less?

_So, with the brilliant minds of his friends, Manda schemed and plotted, all the while confiding in his sweet Shukaku._

_"My dear Wolf," murmured Manda, "I am lucky to have you, to help me rule my kingdom, and win my war." And Shukaku had smiled and snuggled closer to the Snake. "Manda, I would do anything for you, my scaly love."_

_And the next day, the 13th, a Sunday, the day in which war would begin - but not by any means end._

_And the sand would stir beneath Shukaku's feet; for he could smell the blood to come._

_The wind would dance as the Raven twisted with it in the dark night that camouflaged his body, all but his shining eyes. _

_And the Owl would wish for their victory as they attacked._

_The Eagle, Ao, would shudder at the look in her friend - of - sorts eyes as the Jaguar paced in her small hideout._

_And the Lioness was awaiting the signal as the Coyote, Juken, whimpered pitifully._

_The Panther weaved a cloak of illusion as the Fox prepared his knives, and Manda the Snake awaited battle._

_And this would be the beginning of the end for the ten beasts of Biju mountain._

_:-::-::-::-::-::-::-::-:_

_It was Juu, the Lioness, who was the first to realize the outcome of the upcoming battle._

_As she lay in wait and tried to comfort the fearful Juken, she realized; though they were many times bigger and infinitely stronger, the others had more people to assist them. For every person they had on their side, the enemy had at least a million more. Plus, they seemed to know the war would happen, as if they had been preparing for it all their lives. She had seen the inscribed words on their doors, the charms they hung up; warding them off. And the funny thing was, some of them actually held some power. It was as if the universe reacted to the charms written on them and gave them some power. Of course, they alone would not be enough to stop even one of her companions, but combined they would weaken their power, making them vulnerable. And as the flood of enemies attacked, they would slowly be rendered helpless ..._

_... And a helpless enemy finds it hard to escape a plunging sword aimed at their hearts, do they not?_

_But she did not tell Juken. The pale - eyed Wolf was finding this hard as it was and she did not want to hurt her friend. So she stayed silent as she continued to wait._

* * *

Cooro, Nana, Husky and Senri stared in surprise. 

_Poor Gaara, _thought Nana. _Why would they do that to a child so young - in fact, why would anyone do that to anyone at all?!_

Husky was just confused and disgusted_. "Wow," _he muttered. "Not even I was treated that bad, and I was a cross-dressing circus exhibit that also happened to be a +Anima." Luckily no-one heard him, though.

Naruto, too, was astounded._ Gaara never told me they went _that_ far ... _He thought, and could've thrown up.

Itachi couldn't help but feel some connection to the earlier described red head. Of course, he'd never been hung by his ankles above a bed of eight - and - a - half inch nails covered in salt and rat poison, but the rest of it ... well, let's just say his life hadn't been peachy keen, either.

Husky decided that he wanted to find out what was going on ... And the only way to do that was ... "Is your brothers name -" Suddenly, Husky found a hand pressed against his mouth, stopping the words he wanted to say. He could see the cuff of the long grey shirt and glared at it. "Senri ..." He muttered into the palm, but the name was lost and came out as, "Mahmeh."

Temari ignored their words and continued her story. "After that ... well, I had nightmares for weeks. Because I couldn't shake the sight of those eyes. Those sea green eyes, so different from him as a baby. That three year old had seen things worse than the torture Satan himself conducted, and you could see it in his eyes now. So different from him as a baby ... They didn't pull you in. They sent you running for the hills.

"They weren't scary, exactly. At least, not in the normal sense of the word. It was ... eerie. Like - like a full moon. So big, and surrounded by dark black sky. Sooner or later, the dark would consume the moon, no matter how hard you tried to stop it.

"For two weeks I didn't sleep at all and talked less. One day, a Saturday in mid month, Uncle Yashamaru approached me about it. I could barely look at him and I knew if I looked him in the eye I would cry. He wasn't my dear Uncle anymore - he was a horrible creature, one of the big, thundery clouds that covered the sun on a rainy day. He wasn't human - he was nothing but horrible.

"Anyway, he managed to get me to tell him about what we saw. He was very angry at me and made me promise to tell no-one, especially not father. Then he requested that I never go down there in to the dark basement ever again. It was only after I promised not to that he let me go.

"The next day - 13th if I remember correctly - I went to my friends house as a distraction. I came home at about fifteen minutes past four o'clock - just in time to see a ten year old boy with black hair that was loosely tied in a purple bow piggy - backing my brother away from our home, away from my father and my uncle and me and my brother.

A large percentage of Naruto's group suddenly felt very, very queasy. "I ran after them. I shouted at them. And I was slowly getting closer. But then we reached the edge of the forest.

"The moment we hit the edge of the forest, the boy just stopped. Just ... stopped and stood there, back facing to me. And I got closer. But the moment I was close enough to touch my brothers back, he began to turn.

"The moment he moved, I stopped, too, and pulled my arm back. An as he turned, the hair from where it hid his face shifted and I saw his eyes, his green eyes ... the same color as my brothers eyes.

"And I just screamed and ran back home. I haven't seen either of them since, but when I reached the house ... Some of the answers came to me. I also gained some new questions, though.

"You see, the inside of our home had been completely destroyed. The walls were red with my fathers and uncles blood ... I couldn't help but think of my mother at that moment. The furniture was torn up, chewed splinters littered the floor and I couldn't help but throw up when I saw ... when I saw a hand. And an arm, separated from the body. I guessed the owner of the limb was - or had once been - my fathers. But it seemed an animal had mauled it. Enormous jaws had torn up the flesh and, in the end, amputated the arm more or less at the shoulder. The jaw marks were surprisingly easy to look at when I thought of it as Fathers, rather than an arm, which was when I realized I wasn't going to be at either of their funerals for no reason other than that I didn't love him, or my uncle, after what I'd seen happen to my baby brother.

"I knew that only two things could've caused these jaw marks and all of that were not only there that Sunday but there the day my mother died - the day my brother was born. Number one was a wolf ...and number two, was ... my brother was number two.  
It was then I had to face the facts ... My brother, my baby brother, was a +Anima. A wolf +Anima.

"But something didn't add up. Because it's been said that +Anima's are created when a human, generally a child between five and fifteen, is faced with danger that could only be stopped if the child possessed a certain animal quality, and even then only select few actually became +Anima's. How, then, does a new born baby become a +Anima, a wolf +Anima to boot, while it's being held by its loving mother? And why a wolf? How did that black haired boy know my brother was trapped in the basement?

"Nothing added up, nothing - nothing at all made the slightest bit of sense. I read up on +Anima, as hard as it was to find non fiction on the subject. I read up on wolves. And finally, after a good five years, I gave up. After all, I reasoned, it seemed that the dark haired boy cared for my baby brother. I wasn't going to take that away from little Gaara, he had lost too much already.

* * *

The red headed boy swore as he managed to twist enough to see his injured ankle. 

How the hell had he, Sabaku No Gaara, fallen for a simple, flimsy hunting trap?! It was one of the contraptions that looked like a set of dentures, jagged metal teeth that snapped closed upon ones ankle when a small lever in the inside was stood on or pressured. Of cours, to escape ones notice this intelligent hunter had not simply covered it in a few leaves and hoped light would not reflect off the metal teeth. This one was painted in shades of green, black and brown, so as to disguise it much more efficiently than that.

At least some one cared about Gaara's well being. The jaws had just missed completely removing his foot at the ankle but now he had a deep wound in his foot, as if a knife had been driven in one side and out the other, then twisted to make the wound wider.

He had sudden doubts about his ability to walk.

_Oh, well, _He thought, sighing. At least it's day time; now I can tend to the wound properly.

Being careful to raise his leg in an odd fashion that made if higher than any other part of his body, he crawled towards a tree on the edge of the road when suddenly he heard a voice and somebody was holding him gently in strong arms.

His eyes widened. Hell, he was already traveling at the wrong time. Kiba had informed him of the fact Temari had spotted him; he was no fool. If he stayed here much longer, they would come by and spot him -

"No, put me down!" Gaara ordered the unknown raven haired boy. "They can't see me, they can't! Put me do-"

But it was too late. For the feared procession was rounding the corner now.

* * *

**Two chapters in one hour! At least, I wrote them both in an hour. And soon, we shall have a side story, I say! A side story based on and probably titled, "The Adventures Of Shinpachi Who's Also Called Maria AKA The Lass Called Shadow Who Also Happened To Be A Wolf +Anima." Dedicated, of course, to my favourite lass called shadow that's an adventurous wolf +Anima, Shinpachi - who also happens to be my most loyal reviewer. See what happens when you review?**

**Love, Kawa-chan +Hearts!+ **


	9. Declaration of War

_The sand rose as Shukaku's padded paws hit it, resulting in waves of it rising and crashing behind him. Already blood stained his teeth and soaked his fur, but none of it was his own. His eyes gleamed threateningly and his red fur was all the more vibrant. It was if every time he killed, he grew stronger. And his three tails whipped along behind him._

_And suddenly he stopped. The sand stopped its waves in favor of spiraling around him, destroying trees and small huts, crushing the people who were fleeing the enormous beast. For it was true. They were miniscule compared to him. He was at least two hundred feet high, probably twice that much. No one had even dared attack him, most especially in his current state of blood lust._

_And then he spotted it. The imperial army._

_At around fifty thousand people strong, it was his meeting place. He was to deliver the message of war to the peoples' puny emperor. Hey, he wasn't even in charge; his wife dictated his every move. Every person, adult, child or senior knew it. But it was what generally happened in this place. For the women were, and always would be, a larger source of power. Even in this state, he could feel it..._

_"State your -"_

_Before he could continue, Shukaku the Great Wolf speared him through with a nail. The man coughed up a small amount of blood before Shukaku ate him whole. The army below him stared as he lazily used a claw to pick the tiny helmet from between his teeth and through it in to the midst of their ranks. He smirked and his lip curled over his razor sharp fangs._

_"Oh, little old me? I am declaring war in the name of the great Snake, Manda - sama, and the animals of Biju mountain. And you are here for ...?"_

_Before they could answer the impossibly confusing question, Shukaku used a paw to swipe at the army, killing and wounding a sizeable chunk by that one motion. And then, sand whipping around him, he twisted on his heel and left, tails cutting through the air and blood dripping from his fangs. _

* * *

The moment he heard the group/s rounding the corner and heard Gaara's loud begging, he slammed his back to the tree to hide them both. But Gaara kept demanding to be put down "At once!". Itachi glanced around himself. He needed a muffler. Not necessarily for his own sake - Gaara didn't seem to want to be seen. So he thought ... And he thought and then he thought some more. 

_ "Let's see ... Hands?" _He thought._ "Idiot, you're carrying Gaara! Arms are kind of important, you baka!"_

_"Hmm ... I have an i-" _But there was no time to think about it. They were just meters from him, so he took the idea -

- And somehow ended up with his lips slammed against the struggling red head. Instantly the boy stopped moving, the look in his eyes of pure shock. No, wait ... there was a growing speck of anger in it. Or was it something else ...?

He could hear the sounds of the people moving and he hoped Gaara could hear them, too. He also hoped Gaara would understand it to be, ah hem hem, the reason his lips were used to muffle Gaara's own ... a hem hem.

After the first two minutes, Itachi's legs started to get weak and he slid down the tree, gaara still sitting in his lap with his arms wrapped around him and their lips pressed together. Annoyingly enough, the road the group was traveling straightened out, so that if Itachi and or Gaara had gone on to the road, they would've been easily visible. And even if no one had been facing their way, the road they were traveling was actually between two valleys with a fe trees on either side, and the rocky walls would echo many times over and draw their attention anyway.

So they were stuck waiting.

About ten minutes later, he "released" Gaara. Before Gaara was even half out of his lap, a powerful punch in the face made Itachi's head jerk back and he hit his head on a tree.The moment his head stopped spinning, he glared at Gaara, who was sitting cross legged on the other side of the clearing,and somehow managing to glare at him while studying his injured foot.

Itachi just rubbed his sore face and glared right back at him. Then ...

"Why in **hell** did you kiss me?!" Screamed Gaara angrily.

"I didn't kiss you," replied Itachi angrily, trying hard not to think about the fact that the boy smelt like chocoloate.

"Wha - wha - you pervert! If that wasn't a kiss, I bet you have some other explanation, yes?" Gaara smirked. "Ah, yes. A great Uchiha like you can explain any situation, can you not?"

Itachi was confused as to how the boy before him knew he was an Uchiha. "You're very smart," Itachi commented, and then realized that Gaara might take that as the reason he had for, uh ... muffling the red head. His sudden worry was confirmed when he saw the boy pointing at him, an incredulous look pasted on his face. "You - you _perv!" _Screamed the boy.

Now, let me take a moment to explain Gaara's sudden bout of out of character fever.

Well, when someone, namely his enemy someone, helps him hide before kissing him, well, Gaara couldn't help but blush. Especially when he saw it was Uchiha Itachi. Or maybe Sasuke ... no, Itachi. So, to hide his blush, he gets angry.

But now, it was more important that his foor be wrapped. He growled slightly and inclined his head towards the bag next to Itachi. "Hey, bring that here. It has my medical stuff in it." Obligingly, Itachi grabbed the bag, but because the space between himself and where Gaara sat was only about fix feet, he simply crawled on his knees.

Handing the bag to Gaara, he settled himself into a comfortable sitting position in front of the boy. The boy, after accepting the bag, glared at where he sat just a foot away.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

Itachi shrugged and wrested his chin on his hand, eyes on gaara. The boys eyes narrowed but he just began to bandage his foot.

Itachi frowned at the neat bandaging and stopped the boy with a hand. The boy looked up and glared at him.

"What?" He said stubbonly, and Itachi sent him a look before taking the end of the bandage and unwrapping the entire thing.

"Wha? - Hey!" Itachi shot him another glare before explaining.

"Though that's a good way to bandage, this way will make it heal faster. You also forgot ointment."

He pulled a small bottle of green paste from inside his enormous cloak and psted a good amount on Gaara's wound before wrapping it again. "There. Good bye, Gaara - kun."

And before Gaara could reply, Itachi stood up and left.

* * *

**Ah, yes. First meeting of Gaara and Itachi. Thank you. **


	10. Only downhill from here

_Ten women in a lamp lit chamber. The scent of incense. Chain hanging from the ceiling, glinting in the light and the shadows that adorned the walls. The small sound of singing, a beautiful song the likes of which had never been seen before. The singing growing slowly louder._

_ The cries outside the walls. The fall of men and women alike. the clatter of useless weapons as they fell to the floor. The swooping sound of birds. The howl of a wolf that was far, far away, loud and clear and filled with blood lust. the drip of blood and the fury of ear splitting explosions._

_The sudden cry of fear from a terrified coyote and the roar of a lioness as she leapt into the path of an oncoming attack against the corote she knew she couldn't stop. The victorious cry of the people drowned out by the angry and alone growls and howls from the coyote._

_And the sudden cries of fear from the warriors as houses and swords, trees and even their own dead rose into the air. The coyotes angry howls could not cover the warriors now as the rising items attacked, crashing and stabbing, tearing and ripping, the night mare the battle had become. _

_The singing of the women escalating into a chant as the tried to keep the Lioness at bay. The glowing chains that restricted her movement, wrapping around her and each of her tails. The scream and flash of light and she disappeared._

_The cry of a very unfortunate child._

* * *

Iruka sat there in the morning darkness, kneeling by the stream, reapplying the dye on his skin that gave him the look of a gypsy. The dye made his skin itch for quite a while after he applied it, and he couldn't touch his face, arms or any visible portion of skin until it dried for about an hour at least as it would easily smudge, but if he wanted to survive the add on to there group, he had to cover up his face. Just one of the problems with being a wanted criminal with money on his head, he supposed. Though with his hair grown as long as it was, and out of its old pony tail upon his head as well, he was harder to recognize.

* * *

Temari sat up quickly, sweat pouring down her face. She put her head in her hands, hardly noticing she was hyperventilating. "No ..." She whispered. "No - n, it can't be true ... no."Gradually her breath slowed to a suitable pace and she dropped her hands into her lap. She smiled nervously to herself, and fiddled with her shirt sleeve. 

"Don't be silly, Temari," she scolded. "He isn't - he couldn't be. Relax."

_-The sound of pounding feet. Pushing leaves aside with one hand. The other hand holding onto her collar, dragging her body- _

"No," She shook her head and her blond hair fell from it's tie. "No."

_-The howling of wolves. The hiss of a voice, his voice, in her ear, whispering, taunting, threatening-_

"I - I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming." She tucked herself back into the blankets, but she knew she wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

A growl came from outside. The shook badly. That was surely not her imagination.

Another growl and she pulled the blanket to her neck. But suddenly the growl was a voice, a voice she didn't know. Of course, it sounded a lot like a growling wolf. Low, deep and husky. Another voice. This time she knew who it was. Her eyes widened. Husky? But - but who's he talking to? Temari thought. She listened closely, trying to work out what they were saying.

"Look," she managed to catch from Husky, "I know who you are. But I must know ... why? Why didn't you say anything?"

Temari understood much less of what the wolfish voice said.

"My life ... don't you dare ...! You don't know what happened to me ... No one does."

A new voice, another one Temari knew this time, entered the conversation, and suddenly things got a whole lot worse.

* * *

"You two!" Kiba shouted quietly, and it came out as a hiss, "Gaara! Husky! Why the hell are you two here! Husky, you should be in bed, and _Gaara _- Gaara you just happen to be _directly in front of Temari's tent_! If you're caught by her, we don't know what could happen - not only to you, but us! And Huskys group! And - and Moegi, Udon, Konohamaru! You're sacrificing us all!" 

From in front of Temari's tent, Akamaru barked a warning. But sadly enough, Kiba didn't react fast enough to stop Temari's terrified shriek

* * *

The shrill sound woke up everybody. Not a single person stayed in the tent, each one slowly piled out to stand, staring at the scene. Temari just kept screaming, and Kankurou from the back of the crowd, proceeded to push his way through. As he passed, he knocked Naruto forward. Naruto landed with his face in Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke could've sworn Naruto was crying quietly, if the growing wet patch on his shirt was anything to go by. He subconsciously pulled the blond boy into a half hug, but Naruto struggled slightly from his arms. 

"Ga - Gaara!" Kankurou ran to his sister and pulled her into a hug, but her screaming just grew louder. Tears streamed down his face and pain was showing itself in her eyes.

"Ka - Kankurou! It - it's Gaara! I told you! And - and Kankurou! Kankurou, they - they know him! Gaara and Naruto and Kiba and Nana and Husky and Deidara - They work together!"

Silence. Noothing but silence.

* * *

As Iruka ran towards the camp and the source of the screaming, he tripped. A branch slapped his face as he fell and when he brought his hands to his face, he realized the dye was smudged. The paleness of his skin and the scar across the bridge of his nose - he would look almost exactly the same as the wanted poster save his long hair. But he didn't care. He had to reach the campsite before something bad happened, like some farmers or other travelers ventured to the river and saw them. 

Little did he know it was so much worse.

* * *

**8D Xmas special! I WROTE THIS ENTIRE THING ON XMAS DAY! LOVE IT! I may also write an Xmas sasunaru and or leegaa oneshot! Squeeee! I GOT TWENTY BOXES OF POCKY FOR XMAS AND THAT'S LIKE, SO MUCH SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Merry Xmas, Kawa-chan +Hearts AND presents!+ **


	11. Not a steeper hill I ever did see

_"What - so Juu is dead?" If your face was as scaly as the Great Snake, Manda__'s, than you would find it hard to show emotion, too, and only the slight twitch of Manda's lip and the look in his eyes said much. Then he slapped his tails, one by one, onto the ground and it shook, and rocks tumbled from the cliffs, but not one of the nine cared much. _

_The nine high creatures were not even slightly squashed together or crowded in the enormous underground chamber that served as the throne room. _

_Manda was wrapped around the mountainous, pyramid- like structure in the center. Unlike a pyramid, though, it had a step-like pattern cut into it, and a platform at the top upon which Manda was resting his large head. _

_Shukaku was pacing the cavern and growling, his tails low to the ground and flicking back and forth. He seemed extraordinarily angry someone had dared to kill one of his family. Besides that, the great Lioness had practically been his older sister. _

_Strange looking enough, Kyuubi was standing there, balling great, big tears. The liquid was splashing to the ground, creating a large underground lake._

_The wise Owl was comforting the Coyote, her wings wrapping the crying animal in a comforting cocoon. She was singing a quiet lullaby and the emotionally stressed Juken was half asleep. Tears matted the telekinetic creatures fur and his eyes were red and swollen._

_The Raven Mangekou was crowing, perched on the small ledge of the window - like hole in the caverns wall, with Ao the Eagle beside him._

_Even the Jaguar felt the effects of depression, if at a smaller scale. She was silent, curled up in one corner, doing absolutely nothing to draw attention to herself._

_Yuki the Panther was only set apart from the black shadows by her weeping golden eyes as she cried for the great Lioness._

_"That is it!" Hissed Manda, his tongue darting between his teeth. "I will destroy them and their country, if it takes me one thousand years."_

* * *

"Ka - Kankurou! It - it's Gaara! I told you! And - and Kankurou! Kankurou, they - they know him! Gaara and Naruto and Kiba and Nana and Husky and Deidara - They work together!"

Silence. Nothing but silence.

Kankurous eyes widened, then narrowed. "You ..." he hissed. "You people know Gaara? You heard Temari tell her story - why didn't you tell us you knew him?" This was, however, directed not at one of the more adult members of the party being questioned, but at Kiba and Haku. Haku faked a sigh to give them more time to think of a plausible lie. The moment something surfaced to his memory, he seized it. 

"We - we've only known Gaara for a single year!" this was, in fact, true; when Gaara joined them, he was fourteen. Haku could remember it perfectly. The next part was, though, three quarters the truth, and only a tiny lie. "He - he never told us any of what you said! We're all just - just travelers! We met him last year, the thirteenth, a Saturday evening, and it looked like someone had beaten him! He - he had a fever, and bruises all over his body and - and numerous scars! He claimed to be an orphan from one of the Homes in the city that had been beaten when he tried to escape! Please! Just - just leave us, and him, alone! We didn't do anything! He didn't do anything!"

Temari glared at him with swollen eyes. "As much as I'd like to believe that, from the way Kiba was talking you know a lot more than you are suggesting! You knew about me and Gaara being blood relations, you knew bad things would happen if he were to be discovered by us!"

Iruka chose that moment to burst from bushes and into the clearing. The dye gone from his face, he was easily recognizable as a criminal ...

Kakashi gasped quietly, the sound being muffled by the mask and Kankurou pointed a shaking finger at him and let out an angry shout.

"Not only do you travel with a dangerous +Anima monster but a wanted criminal, too?! Umino Iruka, the +Anima monster scum who killed our current Emperors father, with a large number of 5,000 on his head?!"

The sound of flesh on flesh rang through the clearing and Kankurou brought a hand to his red cheek. Naruto stood there in front of him, panting.

"This - this is how you treat human beings?" Spat Naruto, eyes wide, angry and seemingly tinged with red. Kankurou just ignored the pain in his cheek and smirked smugly.

"Yeah, fortunately for me, these slime balls are far from human. They aren't even animal!" He crowed loudly. "Poor bastards, stuck in between -"

Before he knew it, slender fingers were wrapped around his neck, slowly tightening.

"You ass," Hissed Deidara. "If you knew ... if you only knew our pain ..."

Then, before their very eyes, enormous eagle wings shot from his back.

* * *

Pale feathers against pale feathers, splatters of brown dots, a splodge of black near his left shoulder. The wings were real, as real as wings could get. Deidara had a wingspan of at least fifteen feet and with his long blond hair and grey blue eyes, he could've been likened to an angel. 

But right now, he was surely not a happy angel. His wings were raised high, and from Kankurou's point of view added to the being choked part, it would have looked quite threatening. His grey eyes were a mix of anger, fury and something akin to sadness.

"Stop!" cried Sakura loudly and in a panicky voice, and both Naruto and Deidara were shaken and therefore pulled back into reality.

Immediately Deidara released Kankurou's necked, and the hyperventilating puppeteer fell to the floor, rubbing his bruised neck.

Naruto, on the other hand, cupped his hands to his mouth ... and let out a howl, a series of notes that pierce the air. As if on que, everyone on his side began to change and run.

Before their own eyes two fox ears poked through Naruto's blond hair. His posture changed and became more stooped, his arms growing longer, and a bushy red tail sprouting from his tail bone.

Kimimaro had rapidly become a winged human,with the beautiful white wings of a dove. Using said wings, he launched into the air and started flying in small circles before he set course in a North/North East direction.

"Wait!" shouted Baki. He turned to Itachi. "Itachi, we should be capturing them, not lettin' 'em fly away!" But Itachi was not paying attention, not one bit. He was staring in the direction Kimimaro left in, and his eyes seemed to hold desperation.

"Not one of you can move," came a deep, quiet voice, and the mentioned voice forced every one, even Itachi, to turn to the speaker.

Gaara stood there, hands on slim hips, eyes narrowed on the group. Behind him, Zabuza was half way through transforming into a crow +Anima.

Mizuki took a step forward, fist raised. "Oi, if you think I'll listen to a little freak like you -"

A tendril of sand wrapped it's way around Mizuki's wrist, and jerked him to the ground.

"What did I say about moving," hissed Gaara, and the tendril raised Mizuki up off the ground and thew him at a tree. The prisoners stared and Gaara narrowed his eyes. "Look, I'll accept that you think yourselves higher and mightier than little old me, but don't you dare touch my friends," he hissed. "Don't you dare."

Behind him, Nana had sprouted bat wings and her and Cooro were flying away, being closely followed by Husky and Senri on foot. Ino had reversed the direction of her kneecaps, grown a lions' tail and ears and was running away on all fours. Kiba, transformed into an enormous wolf/dog creature, was coaxing the donkey that pulled the cart to move faster, Akamaru beside him. Anko looked like a jaguar and was racing away beside Haku, who had become a panther and was slightly slower than Anko.

The sand had slowly formed a wall about six or seven feet high behind Gaara, blocking Itachi's view. Gaara glared at them all. "Pass the wall and I'll kill you."

It was only then Itachi realized the wall went all the way around them. They were utterly trapped.

* * *

**! I wrote another chapter on Xmas! Of course, in less than an hour it will be midnight ... **

**Totally beside the point, it's been discovered that I talk in third person and always have. So my equivalent of, "Pass me the juice please?" is, "Kawa-chan is thirsty and she needs some juice. Will somebody pass it to her?"Totally not on purpose.**

**0.o Also beside the point, I drew a picture for someone I know in my fanart book (which contains Yaoi images) and showed it to them and they keep trying to take the book home and this girl's a homophobe so I keep having to steal it off her before she can read it.**

**Anyway, love and goodnight, Kawa - chan+Hearts!+ **

* * *


	12. This hill isn't good for my arthritis

**Oh, I'm sorry! I had this all written up last year (literally) and I thought I had posted it ages ago ... he heh...**

**Gaara : Yeah, well you forgot.**

**I know! I'm sad now ... TT-TT**

** Neji : Stop crying into my shirt +Eyetwitch+**

**NO! TT-TT You smell like laven-**

**Neji: Jyuken! **

* * *

_The Jaguar was the next to go, and the Owl disappeared not long after._

_It was the third year of the battles beginning, and of the demise of Juu. It was the 13th, and just when the nine remaining beasts had begun winning._

_They had killed the entire army, and a good three quarters of the ordinary people, royalty included. But the Emperors wife had earlier set up alliances with neighbouring countries, and it hindered the nine. One thing lead to another and these remaining seven beasts were, surprisingly, wounded, though the wounds were far from fatal. _

_A large gash, long and thin but definitely not deep in the least marred Yuki the Panthers left side, and blood matted her fur. She was not making a noise, just sitting there, eyes holding a haunted look.  
_

_The lake of tears created by Kyuubi was still there; and he stood before it, staring at his reflection in the water. A small cut on his cheek mixed with the fresh tears pouring down his face and turned the lake a crimson colour._

_In Jaguars old corner, Juken now curled up, weeping. Beside him, Shukaku lay, head on his paws, surprisingly much smaller then the Coyote beside him. He was whimpering quietly and his ears were pressed down against his skull._

_The Raven Mangekou flew in circles above them, and Ao was singing an eerie song of sadness to the full moon that hung outside, surrounded by dark skies._

_And the Snake - God, Manda, was wrapped around his throne - tower, sobbing, angry. A purple poison tipped the edge of his big, white fangs and his tongue darted in and out of his mouth._

_Shukaku suddenly stood from where he had been curled and cried out, "Kyuubi! Come here, Kitsune-niisan! I need you, I ask your help!"_

_And Kyuubi turned to look at the small Wolf questionly, before he caught the look in Shukaku's eyes and quickly stopped his mourning to trot over to him._

_Immediately Shukaku started to reveal his plan in a hushed whisper, and none of the other five could hear them, not that they were listening. Then Kyuubi nodded his head in agreement and suddenly, an enormous wave of sand rose behind him._

_The five tired beats payed no mind as Shukaku twisted and shaped his sand into three exquisite shapes, statues. The statues were far from the size of the remaining Biju, but would easily tower over the average small house._

_And quickly, Kyuubi conjured an enormous wave of fire that engulfed the statues but did not touch anything else. _

_Slowly the flames died down to reveal three magnificent glass creations. A giant Owl, great wings spread wide; the beautiful Lioness, mouth held open in a roar; and the Jaguar, fierce snarl on her face and in a fighting stance._

_The handiwork was exquisite and the likeness impeccable. Juken stood up, his tears slowly drying. His mouth was a thin line and his eyes held determination as he decided to add a touch of his own to the painting._

_Suddenly the Lion moved, her mouth growing bigger as she roared soundlessly. The wings of the Owl flapped, creating a small gust of wind and the Jaguar's tail swept back and forth; Juken had given them the gift of motion._

_It was the Panthers turn. She stalked up to the statues, and her tail touched each of the noses of the creatures. And suddenly they were alive with color; the golden eyes of the glass owl caught light and her brown wings, dotted with white, continued to flap. The glass jaguar had gained spots and green eyes, and the glass lioness now had the tan - orange fur and black eye-rings she always had._

_It was an illusion, of course, but no less heart breakingly realistic. _

_The Raven flew down and gave his gift to the memory of their friends, plus something to remind them that they were gone._

_From the lionesses and the jaguars backs grew large wings, like those of angels, and wind spun around the threes heads in little rings, going so fast that slowly, they seemed to form halos. It was both beautiful and touching at the same time, and a beautiful thought. _

_It was now the Eagle, Aos' turn to bless her friends, and she looked at them kindly and quickly created two necklaces, out of clay._

_They were like dog tags, and she gave one to each, tying it around there glass necks. No-one saw what she had written on them, but she did not want them to. _

_And now, Manda. He turned to he statues, and whispered something under his breath._

_And this, you see, is why Manda was the Snake - God, Lord of all Bijuus. For he had just bestowed the dead glass with something majikal: he had bestowed on them souls. _

_They would not be the same as the three animals; he would not want them to be. Nor did they have the same powers. But they were alive, and stared up at him with gratitude._

_He smiled back and patted there heads with a tail. "Hello, little ones," He said._

* * *

They stared at him. Oddly enough, it was Jiraiya who spoke next, and maybe even stranger, he didn't say something perverted. 

"The black-haired boy ... the one who saved you, in Temari's story- what - what was his name? Was it ... was it Orochi-"

Gaara's eyes darkened. "Be quiet, old man. Never speak of him. I don't want to hear it right now."

Temari started to shake. "G- Gaara? Gaara?!" Gaara just looked at her through bored eyes coldly.

She continued to stare at him till he muttered icily, _"What?"_

She smiled at him desperately. "Gaara! Gaara it's me, Temari, your big sister!" Gaara hissed slightly and his eyes narrowed. "What sister? You're nothing, _nothing_ to me." Kankurou stood up angrily from where he had been kneeling on the floor, comforting Temari, and took a "threatening" step towards Gaara.

"Look you little brat, I - I couldn't care less that you were my brother, no-one, no-one may speak to Temari like that!" But before Gaara could make a move, Itachi stepped forward and pushed Kankurou to the ground.

Everyone stared. Slowly Sasuke spoke.

"I- Itachi, what the hell?! What the hell-"

"Hush, little brother. Quiet." Sasuke stared up at Itachi, and suddenly Itachi saw a small child, Sasuke before the bitterness of the world had reached him. He turned back to Gaara before he could give in and ruffle Sasuke's hair and poke him in the forehead.

He bowed low, hair brushing the ground, then looked up at Gaara, slowly rising, as if Gaara might attack him at any sudden movement.

"Gaara-san," he said slowly, "May I continue traveling with you and your group?" Gaara raised an eyebrow, so blond it looked nonexistent.

"Why, so you can kill me while I sleep? I don't think so, buddy." Itachi stared at him desperately, and his eyes pleaded with Gaara, and something in them ... he had a feeling he had to see what Itachi could do.

"_Why _do you want to come, anyway?" Gaara said slowly, and Itachi's eyes fell to the ground before he did something that surprised everyone.

He slowly but surely began to undo the clasps on his black and red cloak.

Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow. "Um, what are you-"

He was cut short when the jacket slid off Itachi's arms, falling to the floor.

And with the jacket gone, the enormous black wings were free to unfurl.

* * *

**TT-TT So ... much ... pain! **

**I was having a competition with a friend just before I typed this chapter in which I submerged my hands in an esky full of water and ice to see who could keep them there the longest ... An entire twenty minutes ... **

**Anyway, my hands were SOOOOO numb after that ... but at least I won, hey?**

**Anyway, sorry for any spelling mistakes I might've made, I can't move my hands very well TT-TT.**

**Happy new years! (I typed this on New Years Eve! W00T!- What does W00T even mean?) **

**Love Kawa-chan+Hearts+ **


	13. Ominous words

Gaara didn't move. He didn't look at all surprised. Behind him, a portion of sand simply melted away, forming a door. Their was silence in the sand chamber before Gaara made a small hand motion, indicating behind himself, and raised an eyebrow at Itachi. "Are you going to go through?" he said. It came out more of a request than a question.

Sasuke just watched Itachi. Itachi turned to him slowly. His eyes at that moment, Sasuke's eyes, flashed with something Itachi couldn't place. It wasn't anger. It wasn't hate. It wasn't disgust, nor destestation, and with a sudden shock, Itachi realized what it was.

_Acceptance. Forgiveness. Love. Aknowledgement. Respect. _

His brother didn't care about his secret. Not only that, but he didn't care that Itachi had killed them.

But their was something else there.

_Encouragement._

Sasuke wanted him to go with Gaara. He wanted him to run.

But it was gone now, replaced by Sasuke's usual steely eyes._Well, not much love there,_ thought Itachi, inwardly sighing.

No-one spoke as he walked towards Gaara. Sasuke gave him a nod, barely visible, as he went through. That was all.

He just stood there on the other side of the wall, watching as the sand settled back into place. The dome was fully formed, now. They were in, he was out.

Something dawned on him suddenly.

_My life is in that dome, _Itachi realized. Everything I've worked for, everything I've ever achieved, is in that sandy dome. And now I'm leaving it behind.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," came a calm voice. He looked up sharply, to see ...

"Hello, Itachi," said Haku softly. "I'm glad you finally showed Sasuke your wings." As an after-thought, the boy added, "He loves you, you know."

"Sasuke?"

"Both of them."

Itachi didn't ask who the other was. Haku smiled slightly. "Good, because I wouldn't of answered."

Itachi didn't dare ask how he knew these things in his head. "Good, because I wouldn't of answered - couldn't of answered."

Itachi gave a start as he turned around to see Gaara, stepping out of the sandy dome. His hands were in his pockets and he gave a nod to Haku, then a nod to Itachi."So," he said. If someone else had said it they could've been beginning a conversation, but Itachi was pretty sure Gaara wasn't. "You're one of us. A Anima."

He gave a slight nod. Then he indicated at the dome. "Uh ... you didn't kill them, did you?" He wouldn't put it past the boy.

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "No," he said. "Naruto would get mad at me." Itachi noticed that the boy didn't even deny the ability to kill someone, and it almost made him shiver.

"Gaara, are we leaving soon?" Haku asked. "Good, because we're late. Cooro, Nana, Husky and Senri want answers, but Naruto refuses to talk to them until we arrive." Silence, until Haku added as an afterthought, "He doesn't know about Itachi. Well, this'll be fun."

"Um, Naruto's leader?" asked Itachi, uncertain. He wondered vaguely why they were still standing in front of the dome.

Haku laughed. "Oh, no! Not at all!"

"So ... Iruka's the leader then?"

"No." This was Gaara in his monotonous voice. "We don't have a leader. Most obviously."

Itachi was surprised. "Ok ... we should really go now -"

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"No." Gaara repeated.

"We wait," Haku informed him. "We wait for the signal."

"Oh ... Kay."

* * *

A bird swooped through the air. It didn't make any noises, didn't cry out. The wind seemed to avoid its feathers, leaving them flat against its skin. Its eyes were almost indistinguishable from the rest of the birds body, and they didn't reflect light like the eyes of most living creatures - and, despite the lack of air current, it did not flap its wings, either. 

Now to make this simple for you, this odd bird shall be explained right now. For one thing, it wasn't even a bird. For another, it was made entirely of clay.

Well, no entirely. For you see, both of its wings were made of a deceivingly yellow-tinged sheet of paper, only distinguishable from the rest of the clay bird by the writing on the underside of the paper 'wings'. Two different sheets of paper, both with lines of script written on them for two different groups of people. One was noticeably shorter than the other through, just a few lines - not to say that the other was terribly long, either.

The bird, if you could call it that, suddenly nose dived, tilting downwards through the trees, miraculously avoiding being torn to shreds by branches and limbs, to alight on a pale, gloved out stretched hand.

The bird - creature wrapped little claw - hands around the hand, turning still, almost frozen. Then suddenly its beak darted out, pinching the persons wrist. Blood, trickling and sticky, dribbled down the persons' arm and dripped in large droplets to the forest floor, but he chose to ignore it, not even wincing as the creature sampled his blood.

And the bird seemed to find his blood suitable, because it gave a caw and suddenly the two sheets of paper fell from where they attached to it's clay body.

Gaara didn't let anything past his mask as he simply crushed the bird into his hand, ignoring the blood that trickled into the powder and mixed with it, dusting it off on his thick velvet cloak.

Then, he sat back down on the log between Haku and Itachi to start reading the letters.

_ To Sasuke -_

Gaara raised an eyebrow, wondering why Naruto addressed it to the younger Uchiha and not the older one when he had no idea about Itachi's swap. Never the less, he moved to the next piece of paper.

_Dear Gaara,_

_When you return, we need to talk _(Gaara couldn't help but think grimly, 'the four most ominous words in the world - We need to talk')_, about a lot of things._

_ Starting with your past_ (at this point, Gaara lets out a hiss, attracting Itachi's and Haku's attention. He just glared at them, not letting them see the paper) _- And I know what you're thinking, 'NO'. But your secrets are a danger to us, Gaara. And I can't let you be a danger to us without knowing why. At least give me a reason, Gaara._

_ I want you to give the second piece of paper to Sasuke before you and Haku leave. You know where we'll be, _

_Love, Naruto._

He crumpled the piece of paper into a ball and stuffed it in his mouth, ignoring Itachi's raised eyebrow and Haku's look of utter 'what the hell'.

"Come on," he said in that monotonous voice, having finished eating the paper. He folded the message for Sasuke in half. "We got our signal."

* * *

**Sorry for not posting anything for so long! Uwaaa! Kawa feels bad!**

**But see, I started highschool, so, yeah. Dun kill me, I'm just a fool.**

** This chapter is dedicated to my new friend, Jhangore. Say hello to Jhangore - she is new!**

**Love, Kawa Hearts **


	14. Pet

He wrapped the letter for Sasuke in a layer of sand and poked it through a hole in the little sand dome - this way it would attract their attention, and we would be far away when he let them open it.

Gaara chanced a glance through the hole at them. And wrinkled his nose when warm air hit his face. Wow. It appeared air heated up really fast in that sandy dome, somewhat like an oven. And the heat was taking its toll on the prisoners, teaming up with exhaustion and the weariness of traveling. Temari appeared to be suffering a bad combination of surprise and heat stroke, sitting next to Kankurou, who was fuming. The letter dropped to the ground, weighed down by the sand. It appeared that Jiraiya had seen him, though - for he was sitting, leaning against the wall, just next to the small hole in the wall Gaara had created.

"Hello, Gaara," greeted the man, tilting his head so that the boy could hear him better. Gaara stiffened, grinding out an angry reply. "Hello, old man." Jiraiya just chuckled. "Hey hey, I'm barely seven years older than you! I feel hurt **(1)**."

"Frankly, I don't care, all you sannins look old enough," replied Gaara. Jiraiyas eyes widened in recognition of the names, nostaglia washing over him, the title oh - so - wrong on the young boys tongue. "So I was -"

"Somewhat, old man," Gaara cut him off. "But really, in a way I was ... never saved."

"Oh?" Jiraiyas' curiosity peaked, and Gaara could practically smell it on the air.

"Oh, what?" the red head feigned ignorance, staring straight through the hole in the wall, with that unwavering gaze purposely avoiding the man. "I never said anything. You're going senile."

"One could say we're all a little senile," replied the man, unable to stop his eye twitching irritatedly. Gaara frowned.

"If you're going for the 'all - knowing Granpa' look, at least do it properly." Jiraiya chuckled softly in reply.

"Whatever old man, just, the letter's for Sasuke, from Naruto." Before Jiraiya could question him, sand replaced the small image of his eyes, sealing the dome once more.

**(Yeah, the line break isn't working ...)**

Sasuke watched the entire thing. He watched as Jiraiya and Gaara created conversation, though only hearing snippets of it. His hands curled into fists, and he held Gaaras unsettling, unwavering stare of his, matching it with his own slitted glare.

But the final straw was when, right before Gaara left, the (plus)Anima smirked, gave him a little wave, and blew a kiss his way.

The child in Sasuke was throwing a fit. The adult (teenager, Sasuke dear, teenager) on the outside, however ...

Well, let's just say that Sasuke winked and blew a kiss back, then stuck his tongue out. Gaara just smirked again and winked back, before disappearing.

_'That **bastard** ...'_ thought Sasuke with a growl.

**(Yeah, the line break isn't working ...)**

"I swear they'll be here soon - really soon! So please stop trying to - Eep!"

Naruto ducked, just barely managing to avoid Husky's angry punch. The boy raised his hand once more, preparing to strike again, but Kiba grabbed his fist from behind, "Husky, stop trying to beat Naruto. I can smell them, they're coming, so FREAKING CALM THE HELL DOWN!" the last part was screamed into Huskys' ear, and the boy jumped about a foot into the air.

Let's just say the recent freak - out had ruined everyones' character.

A bored voice rang through the clearing. "Honey, I'm home," said the voice, and every head rotated to stare at Gaara, who was being held by a blushing Itachi. His legs were wrapped around Itachis' waist, and arms around Itachis' neck -- as they were running, the wound on Gaaras' foot had started bleeding again, and Itachi had refused to let him stand on it.

There was silence in the clearing for several minutes, before ...

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?!" screamed Kiba, pointing a shaking finger at Itachi.

"He's a (plus)Anima. If we left him, they would've killed him," said Haku, smiling, eyes crescents.

"Um, Haku, tell me if there's something you don't understand here because HE WAS HUNTING US! HIS ENTIRE GROUP WERE AIMING TO KILL US! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!" This was Naruto, joining Kiba in pointing fingers. "IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER IF HE'S PUNISHED! IN FACT THAT'S PROBABLY A GOOD THING!"

Gaara let out a yawn, drawing attention back to him. "Ok, I have a proposal. Itachi is my responsibility. If he does something bad, I'm the one who's punished. If he's hungry, I'll feed him. If he's cold, I'll get him a blanket. Hmm ... A better way to describe it is he's like my pet. If a dog bites, the owner is punished, yes? The owner is responsible for the dog. So, he is my pet."

Silence met Gaaras' words. Itachi was blushing furiously, highly embarrassed at Gaaras' choice of words.

Gaara sighed. "Well, whatever. Itachi, to the food cart -- from the way they're gaping I think they need food. Wouldn't you say so, too, pet?" And Itachi could have sworn he said pet like that on purpose, so he pinched Gaaras' thigh where it wrapped around his leg.

Gaara just smirked.

* * *

Once they arrived at the 'food cart', Gaara indicated for Itachi to put him down. Slowly, and being careful about his wound, Itachi eased him into a standing position. The boy stood, wobbling slightly, before his thin fingers shot out to cling onto the hem of Itachis' shirt (he had removed the cloak before Gaara climbed onto his back: it was made of a thick, heavy material) and fell against his side, trying to steady himself.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and Gaara shrugged. "Turns out I can't stand after all. Help me, would you?" With a sigh and the beginnings of a blush, the Uchiha looped a hand around the boys waist, holding him to his side. Gaara nodded in appreciation.

"Good. Now, can you help me make dinner? Yeah, the eggs are over there ..."

* * *

**!! SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!! TT-TT**

**I sort of ... Died. Yup. Once or twice in fact. And I've also been in the middle of several other unpublished stories, including and Mpreg and another Itasasu.**

**Love, Kawa! I love you all!!**

**PS. I changed my pen name.**


	15. The Plan

_It was all over now._

_There was barely anyone else left._

_Just the four of them, now; Kyuubi, Shukaku, Jyuuken, and Manda. They still fought the war, in a desperate attempt to end it, but every single time they failed, time and time again they returned to the mountain to find another glass egg resting in the middle of the cavern, the rest of their glass creations. Every single time since that fateful day, even without their co-operation, another creature would be Born, resembling the old beast exactly in looks only on a much smaller scale. Their were six of them in total, each with a personality completely different from that of their predecessor, from the beast the took after in looks. It was odd; even when the panther left they glowed their respective color, and the disappearance of the Owl did not stop them gaining their clay jewelery._

_One of the eggs -- the most recent; it was that of Mangekous' copycat -- sat quietly in the corner. Its glass surface was cloudy and murky, to hide the creature within; if one looked, they could see the gas spiraling just beneath the surface. Every now and then, barely visible black feathers would brush against the inner surface of the glass. However, what Shukaku assumed was a wing as he sat, silently watching it, would retract itself almost immediately, as if it had been burned._

_The Wolf stretched his paws out in front of himself, eyes never leaving the egg, before lying down on his stomach and dropping his head onto the ground and continued to stare intently. There were large black circles around his golden black eyes, now, from his increasingly alarming lack of sleep. For the last month, though, he had been staring at the egg, until the fourth Sunday had arrived._

_It was now the thirteenth once again._

_There was the sound of scales on stone and Shukaku felt rather than saw Manda settle beside him, wrapping purple tails about him and tangling them with his own. Manda did not talk; simply sat beside him, watching the egg with slightly less focus, providing the other with warmth and silent comfort where he had formerly been left in solitary cold._

_"... It's all my fault," The great Snake finally said, nudging Shukaku with his nose. "My selfish foolishness brought this upon them. It's my fault ..."_

_"Don't say that; you had no idea this would happen. It's their fault, those sly humans. They're to blame, not you -" And the Snake swooped down and crushed his lipless mouth against the wolves. In surprise, Shukakus' mouth opened and a long tongue brushed against his own._

_Shukaku moaned slightly in response, a sound that quickly changed to a surprised growl when he felt a fang puncture the skin of his bottom lip. The wolf shook a bit before he slumped forward, unconscious._

_Manda sighed, flicking the tip of his tongue against the canines black nose, and muttered, "Rest, love. You haven' slept since the last one left us."_

* * *

'Dear Sasuke Uchiha

I know what you must be thinking, and I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't want it to end up like this. I was going to tell you, really -- but I couldn't bear the thought of you hating me ... well, I guess that didn't go so well, ne? I bet you're practicing some angry voodoo against me, especially judging from how much it hurts to write this.

But getting down to business. I know this is going to make you angry, but I'm begging you -- forget about us. None of us are worth it. We're just a group of people, some of us have made one or two mistakes in our lives, that's all. Iruka didn't mean to kill your king dude, Gaara didn't mean to kill his parents (well frankly I can't be sure, even I know next to nothing about him), none of us ever intended to become thieves, liars or -- most of all -- (plus) Anima, and I never meant to meet you, let alone hurt you. Even if I want you to forget us, I do want forgiveness, if it isn't too much to ask (which I guess it probably is ...).

But I'm steering off course. I have to press my point, Sasuke -- don't follow us. I'm not being selfish, I just don't want you to get hurt.

Love, Naruto'.

Sasuke crumpled the paper into a ball, and -- in a manner not that much different from what Gaara had done -- forced the entire thing into his mouth, chewed on the paper a bit to break it into several smaller pieces and then proceeded to swallow it (though unlike Gaara had, he glared at everyone who looked at him weirdly).

"Bastard," he muttered, and -- before he could stop himself -- he slammed a fist into the side of the sand dome. Before he could even make contact, however, the sand simply parted, before, to his and everyone elses surprise, a door formed.

Standing just outside of the door, beneath the shade of a rather large tree ... was Gaara. Growling slightly, Sasuke stomped towards him, seized his collar and shook him back and forth several times.

Wait ... Something wasn't right with this. He rubbed his thumb against the material of Gaaras shirt, before swearing and kicking out. His foot went right through Gaaras head, and the boy shattered, sand falling to the ground before spiraling into the air and drifting away. Sasuke watched it go with narrowed eyes before turning around and glancing at each of his startled squad.

"Come on," he ground out. "We have to report back."

Oddly enough, it was shy Hinata who spoke first. "A - and then? Then what - what'll we do?"

"After that?" The Uchiha chuckled darkly. "Then we go after them, of course."

Hinata gulped. That did not sound good.

* * *

Stare.

Not a blink, not a flicker of lashes nor lids, not a single twitching of facial muscles whatsoever. One eye met two red - rimmed orbs in a mute challenge and a battle for victory had secretly began with no clear winner. Utter silence occupied the tent, excluding the occasional clinking of beads and the soft, life - bringing inhaling and exhaling of the tents occupants. Snow - white hair and only slightly longer gray hair tangled together where it met on the green grass and the rolled up shirt that sufficed as a makeshift pillow, and an unfamiliar warmth arose where bare flesh touched.

Finally, a gray eye blinked (winked? It was hard to tell with the eye patch ...) and a fisted hand came up to rub at the single eye. The other gave no victory dance, no snobbish words to shove in the others face. In fact, other than the slightest upturning of lips to show he was at all pleased with himself, his expression didn't change at all -

Until he suddenly frowned, eyebrows crinkling.

"Ano ... Senri - kun ... Why are you in my bed again ...?"

The Bear glanced at him with the barest hint of curiousity in gray eyes before looking down and wriggling deeper into the old, threadbare cloth.

".... Cold." Was all Senri said, and Kimimaro nodded slightly. "Mkay ... Goodnight, then ..."

He rolled over and closecd his eyes once more.

* * *

**Heh ... heh heh ...**

**I was cleaning up my hotmail account and I found this. An entire chapter, forgotten. Damn I'm stupid. Well, whatever ...**

**Even though I semi - abandoned my account due to some family complications and the such, I might be able tyosqueeze in a chapter every now and again, I hope.**

**Sorry! Love, Kawa**

**P.S. No idea what happened at the end, Y'know? With Kimi-kun and Senri ....**


End file.
